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This study employs an improved Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model to calculate the Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of Spartina alterniflora (SA) and various other land use/land cover types (LULC) across coastal China over multiple years. The research aims to provide significant theoretical and practical insights into carbon sink research in coastal zones, sustainable development, and resource management. Key findings include identifying the first ε max value of 2.219 g C/MJ for SA, addressing a critical data gap in CASA modeling research on invasive plants. SA's NPP exhibited higher values in Shanghai and Zhejiang due to factors such as genetic diversity, invasion duration, and tidal dynamics. In contrast, other LULC exhibited higher NPP values in southern and inland regions, characterized by greater vegetation cover and favorable growing conditions. In 2020, SA and other LULC sequestered 16.352 kt C and 0.821*10 6 kt C, respectively. From 2000 to 2020, the average annual NPP and total carbon storage of SA and other LULC increased significantly, primarily driven by Shanghai and deciduous needleleaf forests, respectively. Seasonal NPP trends followed summer> spring> autumn> winter, influenced by climate conditions and plant life activities. Economic assessments in 2020 estimated SA's carbon storage value at RMB0.409 billion (Market Value method) or RMB5.562 billion (Carbon Tax method), with RMB2.054 billion attributed to oxygen release values, underscoring its economic and ecological potential. Among other LULC, evergreen broadleaf forests showed the highest carbon storage value (RMB183.463 billion). The study emphasizes the critical role of all LULC in carbon storage and oxygen release, advocating for targeted conservation and land management strategies. It suggests that managing SA should balance stringent control in high-risk areas, lenient measures in low-risk areas, eradication of scattered populations, and maximizing ecological benefits in retention areas, with continuous monitoring and adaptive management strategies to balance conservation and development efforts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

China has made enormous strides to achieve high-quality development and biodiversity conservation, and the establishment of nature-protected areas is one of the essential initiatives. Caizi Lake involves a natural reserve and two national wetland parks, accommodating winter migratory waterfowl over the middle and lower Yangtze River basin in China. However, the water transfer from the Yangtze River to the Huai River (YR-HR water transfer) has modified the winter hydrological conditions of Caizi Lake, negatively affecting wintertime waterfowl habitats. Hence, conserving wintertime waterfowl habitats necessitates knowledge of the dynamical mechanisms behind the impacts of YR-HR water transfer on wintertime waterfowl habitats and adaptive measures. Here we developed a machine learning model, the normalized difference vegetation index, and on-spot observatory datasets such as the spatial distribution of waterfowl species and underwater topography of Caizi Lake. We found that the rising winter water level of Caizi Lake encroaches on winter waterfowl habitat with extremely high suitability. Meanwhile, rising water levels reduced waterfowl food sources. Thus, rising water levels due to YR-HR water transfer deteriorated waterfowl living conditions over Caizi Lake. Therefore, we proposed adaptive measures to alleviate these negative effects, such as water level regulation, artificial feeding of waterfowls, restoration and reconstruction of contiguous mudflats, grass flats. This study highlights human interferences with waterfowl habitats, necessitating biodiversity conservation at regional scales., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Understanding recovery times and mechanisms of ecosystem dynamics towards the old-growth stage is crucial for forest restoration, but still poorly delineated in Mediterranean. Through tree-ring methods, we reconstructed the return of a tall canopy after severe human disturbance in a mixed beech (Fagus sylvatica) and silver fir (Abies alba) forest, located at a mountain site in the southern edge of both species' range (Gariglione, south Italy). The primary forest was extensively harvested between 1930 and 1950, removing up to 91 % of the biomass. Growth histories, climate-growth relationships and time-series of growth dominance in Gariglione were compared with a network of protected mature and old-growth beech forests distributed along a wide elevational gradient in the same region. We found that the renewed tall canopy of Gariglione is mainly composed of remnant trees, which include uncut trees and saplings, and the post-harvesting regeneration mostly represented by fir. Canopy beech trees reached maximum basal area increment (BAI) in the 1970s, 40-50 years after cutting. Then, beech BAI shifted towards negative trends in phase with drying climate (PDSI), while fir maintained a sustained growth until 2000. This growth asynchrony between the two species conferred community stability over the last decades. The network comparison highlighted the common negative impact of summer drought on high-frequency growth signals of beech in south Italy. However, analysis of long-term mean growth trends indicates decreasing BAI limited to Gariglione beech, revealing relevant differences due to site ecology and its interactions with legacy effects of past management in driving growth responses to climate change. Indeed, lowland mature beech forests showed increasing BAI in the last decades, while primary high-mountain forests displayed a remarkably stable low oscillating growth. In all the Mediterranean forests we studied, large and old trees showed a marked growth acclimation despite ongoing climate warming, demonstrating the effectiveness of landscape rewilding., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: All authors reports financial support was provided by Sila National Park Agency. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Restoration measures have been widely implemented in wetland ecosystems globally to bend the curve of biodiversity loss and restore associated ecological functions. However, assessments of the effectiveness of wetland restoration have predominantly focused on the recovery of taxonomic composition, while few studies have assessed the effectiveness of these efforts from a food web perspective. Here, we incorporated stable isotope approach to investigate trophic structure in natural and restored wetlands in Northeast China. The investigated consumers, including zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, and fish, exhibited lower δ 15 N and higher δ 13 C values in restored wetlands than in natural wetlands. Natural wetlands exhibited higher trophic positions and a wider range of trophic levels compared to restored wetlands. Primary consumers in natural wetlands relied more on particulate organic matter (POM, 42.9 % ± 24.1 %), while those in restored wetlands were more dependent on substrate organic matter (SOM, 42.3 % ± 23.9 %). Compared to natural wetlands, isotopic richness was significantly lower in restored wetlands, with smaller isotopic variation (SEAs) in basal resources, aquatic invertebrates, and fish. Our findings reveal that the recovery of trophic structures in restored wetlands lags behind that of taxonomic composition. Future restoration efforts should prioritize enhancing habitat heterogeneity and resource availability to support a diverse range of trophic levels. Monitoring trophic dynamics is essential for assessing the progress of wetland restoration and should be integrated into monitoring schemes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The escalating challenges posed by seafood waste generated by the fishing and aquaculture industries underscore the urgent need for innovative solutions that promote both environmental conservation and economic viability within the seafood sector. Seafood waste biorefinery emerges as a promising solution, offering the potential to transform waste materials into valuable products. However, it is essential to recognize that seafood waste biorefinery operations also entail environmental impacts that warrant careful consideration. Environmental assessment tools like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provide a valuable framework for assessing these impacts comprehensively. This review critically examines LCA studies in seafood waste biorefinery, focusing on key concepts, emerging technologies, and potential product avenues. Despite the growing body of research in this area, direct comparisons between published studies prove challenging due to discrepancies in feedstocks, processing techniques, value-added products, and LCA methodologies. Nevertheless, the findings consistently demonstrate significant reductions in environmental impacts achieved through seafood waste biorefinery processes. The selection of technologies significantly influences both product quality and sustainability measures. High energy consumption, including diesel fuel consumption in fishing vessels and electricity consumption in processing steps, should be carefully considered and reduced to mitigate associated environmental impacts. In conclusion, while seafood waste biorefinery processes hold significant promise for providing environmental and economic benefits, substantial challenges remain. This review provides invaluable insights for researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders, emphasizing the importance of continuous interdisciplinary collaboration and methodological standardization to advance sustainable waste management practices in the seafood industry., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study gives empirical evidence on the drivers of land use change by conducting a qualitative assessment and then using time series data to quantify the relationship between land use land cover change and factors that cause the change. Vector autoregressive models with exogenous variables were used to analyze the time series data. The findings revealed demographic and environmental factors were the primary causes of land use and land cover change. Population growth was found among the key drivers for losses of the natural vegetation on the one hand and rehabilitation of bare lands and grazing lands on the other hand. Despite its pressure on the natural vegetation, the increase in population contributes to a productive labor force for improving land management through rehabilitating degraded grazing lands, implementing soil and water conservation measures, and planting trees on degraded lands. This implies that population growth can be an opportunity or a threat for sustainable natural resources management, depending on how the available labor force is used. Climatic factors like maximum temperature and precipitation were also important causes of change in land use land cover. The study has important contributions to improving land use practices through designing appropriate land resources management policies., Competing Interests: Declarations All authors have read, understood, and have complied as applicable with the statement on “Ethical responsibilities of Authors” as found in the Instructions for Authors.All ethical practices have been followed in relation to the development, writing, and submission of the manuscript. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The construction of ecological livability plays a crucial role in achieving ecological civilization. During economic development, conflicts between urban populations, resources, and the environment have become increasingly prominent. Although China's efforts in building ecological livability have made certain achievements, they are still in the early stages, making research in this area very necessary. This study aims to establish an indicator system for the level of ecological livability construction from four aspects: ecology, society, residents' living conditions, and economy. Based on panel data from 2008 to 2021, the entropy-TOPSIS model was used to evaluate the level of ecological livability construction in Zhangjiajie City. Additionally, the coupling coordination degree model was employed to study the correlation and coordination among different indicators within the system. Furthermore, the obstacle degree model was introduced to explore the main factors affecting the improvement of ecological livability construction levels. The results show that, over the fourteen-year period, the proximity of Zhangjiajie City's ecological livability construction level decreased from 0.2712 in 2008 to 0.2547 in 2010, then rose to 0.7686 in 2021, reaching a medium coordination level, with the constraining effects among the ecological livability systems weakening. The average wage of employees, the proportion of social security and employment expenditure to fiscal expenditure, the per capita total postal and telecommunications business volume, the per capita number of public library collections, and the proportion of education expenditure to fiscal expenditure have become the main influencing factors of Zhangjiajie City's ecological livability construction level., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist, (Copyright: © 2024 Deng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Vernacular construction uses locally available materials, including plant-based materials. The sustainability of plant use raises concerns. Social evaluation using an ethnobotanical approach gives a clear overview of the sustainability of wild plant harvesting as it incorporates the views of resource users. In Ghana, plant-based materials are commonly used for vernacular housing construction, especially in rural areas. However, the cultural significance of plant species used for vernacular building construction remains unexplored. This study aimed to take an inventory of plant species and use their ethnobotanical indices to evaluate the sustainability of utilization in vernacular building construction. Ethnobotanical data on plant species used for vernacular building construction was collected from 258 respondents in the Adaklu district of the Volta region. Quantitative ethnobotanical analysis revealed that of the 26 plant species identified to be used for vernacular building construction, Bambusa vulgaris, Borassus aethiopum, Elaeis guineensis, Senna siamea, and Azadirachta indica were the most culturally significant and valuable. Bambusa vulgaris had the highest cultural importance, value, and relative importance index. Elaeis guineensis had the highest relative frequency of citations. The findings reveal a high potential for valorizing the culturally important and valuable plant species in the local construction industry. Promoting culturally significant and valuable plant species commercialization presents an opportunity for poverty alleviation at the local level, as most of the species are abundant in the natural environment and are among the commonly planted species for the afforestation program in Ghana., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Maxwell Kwame Boakye. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Conflicts arising from human-wildlife interactions (HWIs) pose a significant challenge in communities neighboring Nyerere National Park. To achieve long-term conservation success, it is critical to understand and resolve complex social conflicts. Currently, most attention is focused on addressing dispute-related conflicts, whereas underlying, and identity-based conflicts are understudied, resulting in inadequate information in literature regarding underlying and identity-based conflicts that drive social conflicts. Through the use of the Conservation Conflict Transformation Model (CCT), this study aimed to identify existing conflicts across three levels of conflict and assess current intervention strategies employed within the study area. Based on data collected from 324 respondents through questionnaire surveys, the study revealed that the dispute level of conflicts was lower than the underlying and identity-based levels of conflicts, emphasizing the limited scope of addressing conflicts solely at the dispute level within the context of conflicts arising from HWIs. To alleviate conflicts at the dispute level, respondents employed both lethal and non-lethal control techniques, with a preference for non-lethal methods. Additionally, socio-demographic factors including age, gender, household size, respondent's attitude towards wildlife, and residence significantly influenced the implementation of intervention strategies (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the findings revealed that respondents faced several challenges, including a lengthy incident reporting process for conflicts arising from HWIs, lack of consolation payment for damages, exclusionary practices, and lack of transparency in seeking assistance from local, wildlife, and government authorities. Overall, the study recommends adopting and implementing a holistic approach aligned with the CCT model to effectively address conflicts under HWIs. Future research should focus on thorough case studies and actual applications of the CCT model to manage conflicts under HWIs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Biological control has been effectively exploited by mankind since 300 CE. By promoting the natural regulation of pests, weeds, and diseases, it produces societal benefits at the food-environment-health nexus. Here we scrutinize biological control endeavours and their social-ecological outcomes through a holistic 'One-Health' lens, recognizing that the health of humans, animals, plants, and the wider environment are linked and interdependent. Evidence shows that biological control generates desirable outcomes within all One Health dimensions, mitigating global change issues such as chemical pollution, biocide resistance, biodiversity loss, and habitat destruction. Yet, its cross-disciplinary achievements remain underappreciated. To remedy this, we advocate a systems-level, integrated approach to biological control research, policy, and practice. Framing biological control in a One Health context helps to unite medical and veterinary personnel, ecologists, conservationists and agricultural professionals in a joint quest for solutions to some of the most pressing issues in planetary health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Environmental offsetting has been developed as a mechanism to facilitate the benefits from economic development while avoiding or minimizing environmental harm. This is achieved by compensating for environmental impacts at one location by generating equivalent environmental improvements elsewhere. However, experience with biodiversity and carbon offsetting indicates it can be difficult to ensure the integrity of offsets. Under recent legislation in the catchments of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, it is mandatory for water quality emissions from new or expanded point source development to be offset by reducing pollution elsewhere, frequently through reducing non-point source pollution (NPSP). Therefore, informed by experience with biodiversity and carbon offsetting, we summarised sources of uncertainty in NPSP reduction that would influence water quality offset integrity; estimated the maximum potential demand for water quality offsets from sewage treatment plants, the largest point source emitter of total nitrogen (TN) in the GBR catchments, between 2018 and 2050; and discussed the implications of both on the ability of offsetting to counterbalance the impact of economic development in catchments where nitrogen loads have a large influence on the health of important GBR ecosystems. The catchments surrounding the population centres of Cairns and Mackay had both a potentially high future demand for nitrogen water quality offsets and nitrogen loads with a strong influence on the health of the GBR. Consequently, any low integrity water quality offsets in these catchments could jeopardise progress toward the water quality improvements needed to ensure the continued health of the GBR. Water quality offsetting has numerous strengths as a policy instrument however substantial uncertainties remain related to environmental outcomes. Until further research can reduce these uncertainties, water quality offsets that are implemented near increased point source emissions and have a high certainty of effectiveness may provide a balance between scientific rigour and policy workability., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Emission reduction, heat mitigation, and improved access to water and food provision are increasingly critical challenges for urban areas in the context of global climate change adaptation and mitigation. The revival of local agricultural production is often lauded as a potential nature-based solution. However, an expansion of peri-urban agriculture (peri-UA) may entail significant ecosystem trade-offs. This study explores the impacts on the food-water-climate nexus of different scenarios of peri-urban agricultural expansion in a semi-arid, Mediterranean climate, addressing local food provision, freshwater use, local temperature regulation, global climate change mitigation, and the trade-offs thereof. We estimate food provision and irrigation water requirements based on a georeferenced urban metabolism approach along with atmospheric and biosphere models to examine four land-use scenarios in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Our study reveals that a 31 % (+17.27 km 2 ) and 115 % (+64.25 km 2 ) increase in the current peri-UA in the AMB, results in an increase in local food production of 24 % (+16,503 tons year -1 ) and 86 % (+58,940 tons year -1 ), and irrigation water requirements by 10.0 % (+3.2 hm 3 ) and 43.5 % (+14.1 hm 3 ), respectively. The expansion of irrigated peri-UA potentially reduces near-surface temperatures by 0.7 °C, albeit temperature reductions in the densest urban areas are minimal. Since the additional peri-UA is achieved by replacing natural non-forested and forest areas, the simulations predict reductions in the net ecosystem productivity of up to 18.5 % and total carbon stocks by 3.3 %. This integrated approach combining urban metabolism and atmospheric modelling to determine the trade-offs appears to be a promising tool for informing land-use decision-making in the context of urban climate adaptation and mitigation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Japan's unique demographic trajectory, marked by population decline and aging, coupled with continued urbanization, presents distinct challenges for aligning built environment capacity with resource efficiency. This study aims to investigate the historical evolution and project future scenarios of building material stock (MS) and their spatial distribution across Japan's three major metropolitan areas. Through a comprehensive material flow and stock analysis, the historical accumulation of building materials from 2009 to 2020 was quantified, revealing a dominance of concrete and an increasing overall stock. The contributions of various driving factors to changes in construction areas were explored, identifying population dynamics as the predominant influence. Leveraging shared socioeconomic pathway scenarios (SSPs), this research forecasted building floor area and MS until 2050 under five distinct SSPs. The results indicated an overall reduction across all scenarios, yet with a continued concentration in high-density urban cores. The substantial gap between the highest and lowest projected MS scenarios highlighted opportunities for material conservation and emission reductions through sustainable practices. Sustainable urban development in densely populated regions necessitates a balance between infrastructure provision and environmental conservation, while in sparsely populated areas, the focus shifts to the efficient management and utilization of vacant properties and materials to cope with the impacts of significant population declines. By offering insights into the building floor area and MS implications of Japan's demographic changes, this study underscores the necessity of sustainable urban planning and resource management strategies to navigate the challenges posed by demographic shifts, ultimately contributing to sustainable development and environmental conservation goals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Despite the global significance of wetlands, conservation strategies often fall short in preserving these ecosystems due to failures in incorporating processes that sustain the ecosystem functioning, hydrological dynamics, ecological processes, and biodiversity of wetlands. Nature-based solutions, such as the reintroduction of beavers, have emerged as effective tools for promoting wetland restoration. Whilst the impact of beavers on wetland restoration is well known, their broader influence on ecosystem health, particularly in modifying habitats for other species, remains inadequately understood. Here we assess the impact that habitat modification through the reintroduction of beavers has on bat populations. There were significantly greater activity levels within beaver-modified wetland habitats for multiple bat species, including higher activity levels of 393 % for Barbastella barbastellus and 313 % for Plecotus spp.. Additionally, we observed positive effects on bat populations in the woodland habitat surrounding beaver-modified wetland for certain taxa. In the face of escalating challenges posed by climate change and habitat loss, addressing biodiversity loss necessitates a shift toward ecosystem-centric mitigation measures. Our study demonstrates that the reintroduction of keystone species like beavers can re-establish historical facilitative links between aquatic and terrestrial food webs, highlighting the importance of such interventions in fostering the resilience and sustainability of entire ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Habitat features, such as species diversity, functional diversity, tree size, disturbances and fragment sizes have differential impacts on carbon (C) storage and C-sequestration in forest ecosystems. Present study attempted to understand the tree strategies for modulating C-sequestration capacity across tropical dry forest fragments with variable edge distances. We evaluated the differences between drought strategies (i.e., drought avoiding and drought tolerant) for variations in stem density, relative growth rate (RGR), C-storage and C-sequestration, species diversity, functional diversity, tree size and disturbance indicators along edge distance gradient, besides analyzed the differences between drought strategies for responses of C-storage and C-sequestration to variations in species diversity, functional diversity, tree size and disturbance indicators. Various traits and functional indices were analyzed using standard statistical techniques. For total trees and for the two drought strategies, generalized linear modeling results showed a significant decline in stem density, RGR, C-stock, C-sequestration, species diversity, functional diversity and tree size indicators, while a considerable increase in disturbance indicators, along decreasing edge distance across the fragments. The drought strategies exhibited a high degree of variation in the slope of associations for above variables with edge distance across fragments. For predicting C-sequestration, structural equation modeling results showed highly significant influence of functional diversity indicators for drought avoiding strategy, while species diversity indicators were strongly significant for drought tolerant strategy. Moreover, fire index and drought index were critical predictors for C-sequestration for drought avoiding and drought tolerant strategies, respectively. This study provide inputs to understand the largely ignored processes of C-storage and C-sequestration in fragmented forests, which are currently prevalent due to heavy anthropogenic pressures. Our findings are useful for forest managers to understand vegetation responses to interactions of species diversity, functional diversity, tree size and disturbance indicators, for predicting the stability of larger fragments and for planning restoration of smaller fragments., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Plant recovery plays a vital role in reclaiming bioresources from constructed wetland wastewater treatment systems. A comprehensive understanding of the environmental impacts and economic benefits associated with various wetland plant resourcing methods is critical for advancing both plant resource recovery and the application of wetlands in wastewater treatment. In this study, life cycle assessment was employed to evaluate the environmental impacts and costs of seven wetland plant recovery methods. In addition, the potential benefits of extending plant resource recovery within system boundaries were explored to enhance the overall advantages of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. The use of wetland plants for biofertilizer production had the lowest environmental impact (-8.52E-03), whereas the use of wetland plants for biochar production was the most cost-effective approach (-0.80€/kg). The introduction of a plant resource recovery component could significantly reduce the environmental impacts of constructed wetland wastewater treatment systems. The environmental impacts and costs of constructed wetland wastewater treatment systems that incorporate plant resource recovery into the system boundary are better than activated sludge methods and highly efficient algal ponds, except for the global warming potential (GWP). The use of plants for biofertilizer production could cut the environmental impacts of constructed wetland wastewater treatment systems by up to 85 % and the costs by 65 %, making it the most suitable method of plant use. Additionally, prioritizing the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from constructed wetlands should be a primary optimization goal. The findings of this study provide valuable support for the implementation of wetland plant resourcing in constructed wetland wastewater treatment systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Eco-engineering of coastal infrastructure aims to address the insufficient intertidal habitat provided by coastal development and flood defence. There are numerous ways to enhance coastal infrastructure with habitat features, but a common method involves retrofitting artificial rockpools. Often these are 'bolt-on' units that are fixed to existing coastal infrastructure but there is a paucity of literature on how to optimise their arrangement for biodiversity. In this study, 24 artificial rockpools were installed at three levels between High Water Neaps and Mean Tide Level on a vertical concrete seawall on the south coast of the UK. The species abundance of the rockpools and adjacent seawall were surveyed at low tide for 2 years following rockpool installation and compared. Over the course of the study, sediment had begun to accumulate in some of the rockpools. At the 2-year mark, the sediment was removed and assessed for macrofauna. Algal biomass of the seawall and rockpools was estimated using previously obtained dry weight values for the dominant algae taxa. After 2 years, it was determined that artificial rockpools successfully increase species richness of seawalls, particularly at higher tidal levels where water-retaining refugia are crucial for many species. The rockpools hosted 37 sessile taxa and 9 sessile taxa were recorded on the seawall. Rockpools increased the vertical elevation for brown canopy-forming seaweeds by providing better attachment surfaces. Although the retained sediment only hosted 3 infaunal species, it was observed to provide shelter for shore crabs during surveys. As sea levels and ocean and air temperatures continue to rise, vertical eco-engineering arrangements will play a crucial role in allowing species to migrate up the tidal zone, negating habitat loss and localised extinction., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Feeding a growing population with healthy food while preserving the natural ecosystem's resources is a critical challenge of our century. In Egypt, the increasing demand for food commodities and the intensive consumption of freshwater resources by the agricultural sector is hindering the food system capability to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security. The Egyptian government has recently prioritized the improvement of dietary supply through the efficient use of the locally available natural resources. However, strategies to transform the Egyptian agri-food system towards the sustainable satisfaction of healthy dietary needs have not been yet studied. Here, a novel approach has been introduced, able to combine the environmental advantages of an optimized crop allocation with the benefits of providing a healthy diet. First, a physically based agro-hydrological model is used to assess the crop water needs associated with the current cropland and diet (baseline). Subsequently, a linear optimization crop allocation algorithm is designed to replace crops in order to maximize green water productivity, while meeting the dietary requirements of the EAT-Lancet diet. Our results show that through an optimized crop allocation entailing the production of healthy and varied food, it is possible to reach an average 95 % satisfaction of the demand for healthy food items by local agricultural products, with an 8 % reduction in local freshwater consumption and a 90 % increase in crop profitability. Our study suggests the prioritization of the promotion of the dietary guidelines by the EAT-Lancet Commission at the national level in Egypt, to support human health against malnutrition and the development of a more sustainable and efficient food system., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The increasing urgency of global environmental degradation, particularly across diverse economic development stages, underscores a critical need for nuanced understanding and targeted strategies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Our study examines environmental efficiency trends over 27 years in 163 countries, utilizing greenhouse gases and particulate matter 2.5 as indicators. We address the challenge by developing and applying a two-stage method that combines a hyperbolic distance function with a stochastic meta frontier approach to assess environmental meta-efficiency. The average meta efficiency of these countries is 0.464, which remains at a relatively low level. Our model indicates that the high-income country group needs to reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions by 25% and increase non-fossil energy usage by 33% to improve environmental efficiency. This suggests these countries must transition towards more sustainable energy sources and practices. Moreover, recognizing that existing income grouping inadequately characterizes each country, we use k-means cluster analysis for regrouping, more accurately reflecting individual differences. The regrouping results show that some high-income countries are classified into inactive groups, implying serious environmental problems. Our findings advocate for collaborative and tailored strategies to address these disparities. We conclude that income levels cannot solely drive environmental efficiency but must also consider geographical and climatic factors, which are pivotal in shaping a country's environmental policies and efforts. This approach offers a clearer understanding of current inefficiencies and sets the stage for more informed policy-making that can better address the specific needs and capabilities of different countries., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Sangmok Kang reports financial support was provided by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2021S1A5A2A01069262)., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Wood is increasingly being appreciated in construction due to its valuable environmental attributes. This paper explores the environmental and market performance of two wood supply chains in Northern Italy. Larch and chestnut wood are extracted and processed to obtain beams, planks, MDF panels and energy. LCA is performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of 1m 3 of extracted wood through a cradle-to-gate approach. Then, a biogenic carbon analysis is carried out using the EN 16449:2014 standard including a comparison of different end-of-life treatments. Also, OSB is proposed as an alternative path for wood chips and contrasted to the current energy scenario. Moreover, solid wood beams and planks are compared with engineered wood products (EWPs). Lastly, a market analysis is conducted to assess the market trends of the different wood products studied. The LCA shows similar results for both wood species across most impact categories, with slightly higher values for the chestnut system. Most impacts are related to the production of MDF boards and the energy valorization of wood chips. Biogenic carbon analysis shows a negative balance of emissions with -314 and -205 kg of CO 2 eq for larch and chestnut, respectively. It also suggests that OSB manufacturing can be a valuable alternative to the energy use of wood chips and that the end-of-life treatment with better results is recycling. The comparison of beams and planks with engineered wood products supports that solid wood poses a better environmental alternative in similar applications. Market analysis shows stagnation in the apparent consumption of wood products in the European market and a slight growth in the Italian one between 2018 and 2022. Overall, the systems studied suggest that the potential environmental benefits of using wood in construction are not being matched by current market trends., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In many mountainous regions, ongoing reforestation leads to the permanent shrinkage of traditional landscapes connected with past human activity. Tourism is often perceived as a measure for the protection of traditional landscapes. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of in-depth studies exploring the connection between mountain glade conservation and tourism development. This paper aimed to determine whether tourism development can prevent the reforestation of temperate mountain glades and to assess the extent of its influence on traditional glade landscapes. Based on the example of the Western Beskids (Poland), we investigated the change in the range of glades in relation to tourist development, which has not been analysed until now. Cartographic analyses were used to examine how the landscape has changed since 1983. To determine the influence of tourist development on the landscape, the tourism landscape footprint (TLF) index was calculated. Two trends were detected: reforestation in glades that are touristically utilized and the gradual tourist development of the remnants of traditional landscapes within preserved non-forested areas. The study reveals that despite tourism, reforestation within glades is continuing, and simultaneously, the share of tourist elements in the shrinking glades is increasing. In the case of areas intensively used for tourism, the traditional landscape is disappearing as it is transformed into a tourist landscape. Further studies are necessary to assess the level of tourism development that will provide traditional landscape conservation in accordance with the principles of sustainable development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In plant environments, there exist heterogeneous microbial communities, referred to as the plant microbiota, which are recruited by plants and play crucial roles in promoting plant growth, aiding in resistance against pathogens and environmental stresses, thereby maintaining plant health. These microorganisms, along with their genomes, collectively form the plant microbiome. Research on the plant microbiome can help unravel the intricate interactions between plants and microbes, providing a theoretical foundation to reduce pesticide use, enhance agricultural productivity, and promote environmental sustainability. Despite significant progress in the field of research, unresolved challenges persist due to ongoing technological limitations and the complexities inherent in studying microorganisms at small scales. Recently, synthetic community (SynCom) has emerged as a novel technique for microbiome research, showing promising prospects for applications in the plant microbiome field. This article systematically introduces the origin and distribution of plant microbiota, the processes of their recruitment and colonization, and the mechanisms underlying their beneficial functions for plants, from the aspects of composition, assembly, and function. Furthermore, we discuss the principles, applications, challenges, and prospects of SynCom for promoting plant health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Offshore ocean aquaculture is expanding globally to meet the growing demand for sustainable food production. At the United Kingdom's largest longline mussel farm, we assessed the potential for the farm to improve the habitat suitability for commercially important crustaceans. Modelled distribution patterns (GAM & GLM) predicted the low complexity seabed beneath the mussel farm was 34-94 % less suitable for European lobster (Homarus gammarus) and brown crab (Cancer pagurus) than nearby rocky reefs. The mussel farm operations, however, contributed large amounts of living mussels and shell material to the seabed. Acoustic telemetry revealed that H.gammarus remained within the farm for between 2 and 283 days using both the farm anchors and areas of seabed dominated by fallen mussels for refuge. In contrast, C. pagurus movements showed no affinity to either the farm infrastructure or benthic habitat under the farm. Stable isotope analysis indicated a high dietary niche overlap in C. pagurus and H. gammarus (67.8 and 84.6 %) between the mussel farm (mixed muddy sediment) and nearby rocky reef. Our mixed-methods suggest that the mussel farm augments structural complexity on the seabed providing refuge and similar feeding opportunities for lobster and crab as their typical habitat on rocky reefs. Longline mussel farms can deliver profound biodiversity-positive effects through biogenic augmentation of degraded habitat for commercial species and potential for co-benefits to local fisheries., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We confirm there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Climate change has significantly impacted the wildfire regimes in lodgepole pine forests, resulting in prolonged fire seasons and altered fire behaviour. In North America, fire patterns have shifted towards more frequent and severe wildfires after a century of fire suppression. In response, silviculture practices in fire-prone areas should aim to restore diverse forest structures that are resistant or resilient to wildfires. In Western Canada, where forestry is a key industry, interest in seeking silvicultural solutions for promoting forest resilience to wildfires has increased following the devastating wildfire seasons between 2017 and 2023. Irregular shelterwood, a silvicultural system with a relatively short history of implementation in British Columbia, has been deployed in ecologically sensitive areas to promote structural heterogeneity and meet management goals for biodiversity and wildlife values. Although the impacts of irregular shelterwood on wildlife habitat and abundance have been well studied, the interaction between wildfire and the stand structure created by irregular shelterwood remains poorly understood. To understand the effectiveness of the irregular shelterwood in building wildfire resilience, we present a study of a lodgepole pine stand that was treated with irregular shelterwood and partially burned in a wildfire in 2017. This study collected ground fuel, canopy fuel, and tree data from four stand types (irregular shelterwood treated-burnt, treated-unburnt, untreated-burnt, and untreated-unburnt) and analyzed the difference in char height and fire-induced mortality between burnt and unburnt conditions, with irregular shelterwood treatment being a variable. The results demonstrated reduced wildfire effect in the irregular shelterwood stand in this region of British Columbia. This observation was made at a stage where the openings have not been colonized by regeneration. This case study provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of irregular shelterwood in mitigating wildfire risk, and proposes a potential silviculture solution to promote forest resilience to wildfire., Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests., (Copyright: © 2024 Liu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Digitalization and greening are two major characteristics of economic and social development, and promoting the deep synergy of these two factors has significant practical relevance for employment. However, the question of whether synergy between digitalization and greening promotes or hinders employment has not been answered in the literature. Therefore, a synergistic framework was first constructed for urban greening and digitalization based on green pulling and the digital empowerment mechanism. By using data from 281 cities in China from 2011 to 2021, the synergistic effects of digitalization and greening on employment and its underlying mechanisms were explored in this study. The findings revealed that (1) the synergistic development of these two factors can indeed promote employment, and this result remains valid after numerous robustness tests are performed. (2) Mechanism analysis revealed that the synergy can enhance employment by promoting regional innovation and entrepreneurship and increasing human capital investment. (3) Heterogeneity analysis showed that there was a more significantly positive effect on employment in the tertiary industry, in eastern and central regions, and among governments with a greater preference for innovation. (4) Further research has shown that this synergy has a prominent spatial spillover effect on employment, and it remains valid after the matrix is replaced. These results offer policy references for fully unleashing the employment-creating effect of the synergy between digitalization and greening and thereby achieving high-quality development., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

To gain a scientific understanding of the cross-system impact of coastal zones and promote the sustainable development and protection of coastal areas, we constructed a spatial benefit evaluation system that encompassed both terrestrial and marine systems, focusing on the ecological, economic, and social dimensions. We employed the entropy method, moving average method, and Mann-Kendall trend test to quantitatively characterize the spatial benefits of the coastal zone in Fujian Province, China, and the evolution of the marine climate from 2005 to 2020. Building on this, the grey relational analysis method was applied to investigate the correlation between spatial benefits and marine climate and to explore the trends and magnitude of the impact of marine climate on spatial benefits. During the study period, the spatial benefits of the coastal zone in Fujian Province exhibited a fluctuating pattern of an initial increase followed by a decrease, with spatial benefits varying among cities. The role of the economic system in enhancing spatial benefits was not considerable. Changes in the marine climate aligned with the global warming trend, with the most considerable changes observed in sea level and tropical cyclone frequency and intensity, which are sensitive to human activities. There was a high degree of correlation between coastal zone spatial benefits and marine climate, with seawater salinity being most closely related to spatial benefits, while tropical cyclones showed the weakest correlation. The results of this study support sustainable development efforts in coastal zones., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Wen. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Complex reef structure, built via calcium carbonate production by stony corals and other calcifying taxa, supports key ecosystem services. However, the decline in coral cover on reefs of the Florida Reef Tract (US), caused by ocean warming, disease, and other stressors, has led to erosion exceeding accretion, causing net loss of reef framework. Active coral restoration, aimed at rapidly increasing coral cover, is essential for recovering reef structure and function. Traditionally, restoration success focused on the survivorship and growth of transplanted corals. This is the first empirical study to examine the role of high-density outplants of the endangered staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, in restoring positive carbonate accretion on Florida reefs. Successful transplantation of staghorn corals contributed to positive net carbonate production. Restored plots yielded a mean net carbonate production rate of 3.06 kg CaCO 3 m - 2 yr - 1 , whereas control plots exhibited net erosive states. Staghorn restoration plots sustained positive net carbonate production at a threshold of ~ 2.96% coral cover. However, bleaching, storms, and disease challenge these reefs, highlighting the need for restoration strategies that enhance resilience to environmental stressors. Establishing Acroporid aggregations through outplanting, alongside climate adaptation strategies, could foster reef habitat growth and enhance the recovery of ecosystem services., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Managers attempt to minimize spatial use conflicts in siting of offshore wind developments, but they must rely on available data to balance biological, commercial, and recreational needs. Marine spatial planning products are only as good as the data they are built upon and fishing data present major challenges due to their confidentiality and the difficulty in isolating true fishing activity. We present a methodology to increase the spatiotemporal resolution of fishing effort and exposure estimates for Southern New England scallop fishing activity using random decision forests to perform supervised classification on AIS data, with fallback to lower resolution datasets for vessels without AIS coverage. Final predictive accuracy of the tuned random forest AIS model was 97.9%, offering improvements of 24.7, 48.6, and 50% over VTR fishing footprints, and AIS and VMS speed cutoff methods, respectively, to predict whether vessel locations correspond to fishing activity. Comparison of the AIS model with VMS and VTR fallback to the VTR fishing footprints data product demonstrated that the increased precision of the AIS point data delineated as fishing dramatically changed how fishing effort, and therefore exposure in the form of fishery landings values, is distributed spatially in Southern New England wind energy areas. This is due to how the probability of fishing is distributed across location data points in the various products, which has implications for marine spatial planning and mitigation decision-making. Therefore, multiple data products should be considered when evaluating management options, as exposure estimates may differ depending on what inputs are used. The higher resolution AIS product may offer enhanced value in understanding exposure and impacts to individual vessels, especially once wind farms are under construction or operational., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.)

Investigating how human disturbance affects the ecosystem service scarcity value (ESSV) is crucial for maintaining ecosystem stability and achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study separately assessed ESSV and human disturbance in Guangxi from 1990 to 2020, revealing their spatiotemporal distribution differences over time. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is used to analyze the interrelationship between the two, with the purpose of filling the gap in current research. The main results are as follows: (1) From 1990 to 2020, ESSV in Guangxi increased significantly and reached its highest value in 2020. Under the four scenarios, ESSV increased significantly in Scenarios 2 and 4. Spatially, high ESSV was mainly distributed in some cities in central, southern, western and northeastern Guangxi. (2) The index of human disturbance in Guangxi continued to increase during the study period, with a high level of human disturbance in the central urban area and a low level of human disturbance in the peripheral areas, which were distributed in a radial pattern. (3) According to the EKC, the relationship between ESSV and human disturbance in Guangxi followed an inverted N-shaped curve. In addition, after 2010, the coupling and coordination level was dominated by "slightly balanced development", and the area of "ESSV significantly lagged" gradually increased. This study provides a new perspective for understanding ESSV and its relationship with human disturbances, and provides an important reference for the sustainable management of ecosystems and the formulation of ecological conservation policies., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Outbreaks of corallivorous Crown of Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster spp.; CoTS) cause substantial coral mortality throughout the Indo-Pacific, particularly on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Refining CoTS population density modelling and understanding the disparities between real-world observations and model predictions is crucial for developing effective control strategies. Using a spatially explicit ecosystem model of the GBR, we compared CoTS density model predictions to observations and incorporated a new zone-specific mortality rate to account for differences in predation of CoTS between fished and protected reefs. We found high congruence between predictions and observations: ∼81 % of categorical reef level CoTS densities matched or only differed by one category. However, underpredictions increased with higher observed densities. Zone-specific CoTS mortality reduced severe underpredictions from 7.1 % to 5.6 %, which is critical for managers as underpredictions indicate missing outbreaks where targeted culling is necessary, but also lead to underestimated coral loss attributed to CoTS outbreaks. Reef protection status affected prediction accuracy, highlighting the importance of further research on in situ CoTS mortality rates. The location of a reef inside or outside the "initiation box", a speculative area of primary outbreaks (i.e., initial abrupt population increases) on the GBR, also influenced accuracy, with exact predictions more likely outside. Accurately modelling initiation box dynamics is challenging due to limited empirical data on CoTS outbreaks, highlighting the need for focussed research on outbreak dynamics to enhance predictive accuracy. Spatial factors, such as region and shelf position, contributed to the variance between observations and predictions, underscoring the importance of the spatial-temporal context of each observation. Observations of CoTS can help refine model predictions, guide targeted control measures, and contribute to effective ecosystem management for the long-term resilience of the GBR and other reefs targeted by CoTS throughout the Indo-Pacific., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Urban waterfront areas are dynamic interfaces where human and natural systems converge, forming complex ecosystems that encompass social, economic, and environmental elements. These areas offer ecological benefits and aesthetic experiences. However, a disparity between social aesthetic preferences and vegetation diversity along riverbanks impedes the integration of ecological and aesthetic values. To address this, a plant community optimization strategy based on a coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) is proposed. Using the Xietang River in Suzhou, China as a case study, surveys were conducted on 33 woody plant plots and 60 herbaceous plant plots, assessing plant diversity with Shannon-Wiener, richness, and Pielou indices. Landscape beauty was evaluated by 87 respondents using the Scenic Beauty Estimation method. Using six representative plant communities as mediators, CCDM was applied to quantitatively analyze the coordination between plant diversity and aesthetics. Based on this analysis and considering factors influencing plant diversity and scenic beauty, plant community optimization strategies were devised to enhance the coordinated development of ecological diversity and aesthetics, fostering a synergistic improvement in ecological and aesthetic quality. Results revealed a range of coupling coordination across plant communities (0.203 to 0.947), encompassing various types. Linear regression analysis demonstrated a non-linear relationship between plant diversity and landscape beauty, influenced by independent yet partially overlapping factors. Hence, both aspects should be simultaneously considered in the planning and enhancement of riverbank areas. The coupling coordination degree offers a comprehensive understanding of harmonizing plant diversity and aesthetic value, providing a quantitative and objective approach to integrated research. This perspective extends beyond urban waterfront landscapes, holding significance for achieving dual goals of ecology and social services in urban design and landscape management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The lack of synthesized information regarding biodiversity is a major problem among researchers, leading to a pervasive cycle where ecologists make field campaigns to collect information that already exists and yet has not been made available for a broader audience. This problem leads to long-lasting effects in public policies such as spending money multiple times to conduct similar studies in the same area. We aim to identify this knowledge gap by synthesizing information available regarding two Brazilian long-term biodiversity programs and the metadata generated by them. Using a unique dataset containing 1904 metadata, we identified patterns of metadata distribution and intensity of research conducted in Brazil, as well as where we should concentrate research efforts in the next decades. We found that the majority of metadata were about vertebrates, followed by plants, invertebrates, and fungi. Caatinga was the biome with least metadata, and that there's still a lack of information regarding all biomes in Brazil, with none of them being sufficiently sampled. We hope that these results will have implications for broader conservation and management guiding, as well as to funding allocation programs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ensuring the sustainability and circularity of mixed crop-ruminant livestock systems is essential if they are to deliver on the enhancement of long-term productivity and profitability with a smaller footprint. The objectives of this study were to select indicators in the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability of crop-livestock systems, to assess if these indicators are relevant in the operational schedule of farmers, and to score the indicators in these farm systems. The scoring system was based on relevance to farmers, data availability, frequency of use, and policy. The study was successful in the assemblage of a suite of indicators comprising three dimensions of sustainability and the development of criteria to assess the usefulness of these indicators in crop-ruminant livestock systems in distinct agro-climatic regions across the globe. Except for ammonia emissions, indicators within the Emissions to air theme obtained high scores, as expected from mixed crop-ruminant systems in countries transitioning towards low emission production systems. Despite the inherent association between nutrient losses and water quality, the sum of scores was numerically greater for the former, attributed to a mix of economic and policy incentives. The sum of indicator scores within the Profitability theme (farm net income, expenditure and revenue) received the highest scores in the economic dimension. The Workforce theme (diversity, education, succession) stood out within the social dimension, reflecting the need for an engaged labor force that requires knowledge and skills in both crop and livestock husbandry. The development of surveys with farmers/stakeholders to assess the relevance of farm-scale indicators and tools is important to support direct actions and policies in support of sustainable mixed crop-ruminant livestock farm systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Large-scale afforestation programmes are generally presented as effective ways of increasing the terrestrial carbon sink while preserving water availability and biodiversity. Yet, a meta-analysis of both numerical and observational studies suggests that further research is needed to support this view. The use of inappropriate concepts (e.g., the biotic pump theory), the poor simulation of key processes (e.g., tree mortality, water use efficiency), and the limited model ability to capture recent observed trends (e.g., increasing water vapour deficit, terrestrial carbon uptake) should all draw our attention to the limitations of available theories and Earth System Models. Observations, either based on remote sensing or on early afforestation initiatives, also suggest potential trade-offs between terrestrial carbon uptake and water availability. There is thus a need to better monitor and physically understand the observed fluctuations of the terrestrial water and carbon cycles to promote suitable nature-based mitigation pathways depending on pre-existing vegetation, scale, as well as baseline and future climates., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Coral reefs are among the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on the planet, providing numerous benefits to human societies, including fisheries, coastal protection, and biodiversity conservation. In order to effectively manage and conserve coral reefs, it is essential to understand the value of the ecosystem services they provide. The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework offers a comprehensive approach for accounting for ecosystem services, which can be useful for assessing the value of natural environments. While the validity of SEEA for many marine ecosystems is increasingly acknowledged, there remains a scarcity of studies that have investigated SEEA in the context of coral reef ecosystems. To bridge this gap, this study offers extensive examination and investigates the evolution of coral reef ecosystem service research under the SEEA framework in over nearly three decades, providing a rich dataset for understanding trends and gaps. The research findings reveal interdisciplinary methodological integration in coral reef ecosystem research, incorporating remote sensing, environmental science, ecology, environmental economics, ecological economics, computer science, and citizen science. Across different time periods, within the shared focus of coral reef health and sustainability, there has been a transition from concerns about the impacts of human activities to a concentration on climate change, supported by empirical evidence and case studies. These research results contribute to our better understanding of the value of coral reef ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Coastal and marine ecosystems supply multiple Ecosystem Services (ES). Nevertheless, these ecosystems are among the most impacted by human activities, harming the ES sustainable supply. Since ES are a spatial phenomenon, mapping can contribute to understand ES supply. For this, we use quantitative spatio-temporal frameworks to map and assess the supply of one provisioning (food from fisheries) and two regulating ES (nursery habitats and nutrient regulation), considering two periods: Baltic Sea Holistic Assessment (HOLAS) 2 (2011-2016) and 3 (2016-2021). The ES supply was assessed following a process-based modelling approach, using bio-physical indicators as proxies. The three ES models were applied and validated, showing moderate results. For fisheries and nursery ES the results showed a significantly higher supply in HOLAS 3 than in 2, and for nutrient ES the opposite. This indicates that the assessed ES changed due to environmental activities. The Anselin Local Moran's results showed that most ES index values aggregate in the High-High cluster; Moran's I and semi-variogram results showed a clustered pattern; and the Getis Ord* analysis showed that hot and cold spots corresponded to high and low supply areas. For fisheries, high ES supply areas were located in the central-southern part of the Baltic Sea, while low-supply regions were located in the northern part. For nursery ES, high supply areas were located in the southwestern Finnish and western Estonian coasts. For nutrient ES, high supply areas occurred in the central- and eastern-southern parts close to the coast. Correlations showed a statistically significant negative correlation between fisheries and nursery ES and a significant positive correlation between fisheries and nutrient ES. No statistically significant correlations were observed between nursery and nutrient ES supply. The results obtained are essential to support coastal and marine management and planning in the Baltic Sea as well as international environmental policies and directives., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The ecological restoration of historical abandoned mines has emerged as a prominent issue that has been of great concern to the Chinese government and academia in recent years. In order to enhance the systematic and comprehensive evaluation of ecological restoration efforts in abandoned mines, this study explores and researches a new perspective, i.e. the subjective perception perspective based on residents' satisfaction, and applies it to the ecological restoration performance evaluation of abandoned mines in Ganzhou, which is the most representative city of mineral resources in the southern hilly and mountainous area. An ecological restoration performance evaluation index system has been developed, encompassing three criteria layers: ecology, economy, and society, as well as twenty indicator layers. In this paper, a combination of Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and importance-performance analysis (IPA) method is proposed to empirically analyze the ecological restoration performance of abandoned mines in the study area. The study revealed that the three counties predominantly prioritized ecological benefits, whereas the satisfaction of residents with social and economic benefits was lacking. Based on the findings, corresponding countermeasures were proposed, offering a fresh perspective and theoretical framework for assessing ecological restoration in abandoned mines., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Amazon forests are becoming increasingly vulnerable to disturbances such as droughts, fires, windstorms, logging, and forest fragmentation, all of which lead to forest degradation. Nevertheless, quantifying the extent and severity of disturbances and their cumulative impact on forest degradation remains a significant challenge. In this study, we combined multispectral data from Landsat sensors with hyperspectral data from the Earth Observing-One (Hyperion/EO-1) sensor to evaluate the efficacy of multiple vegetation indices in detecting forest responses to disturbances in an experimentally burned forest in southeastern Amazonia. Our experimental area was adjacent to an agricultural field and consisted of three 50-ha treatments - an unburned Control, a plot burned every three years, and a plot burned annually from 2004 to 2010. All plots were monitored to assess vegetation recovery after fire disturbance. These areas were also affected by three drought events (2007, 2010, and 2016) over the study period. We evaluated a total of 18 Vegetation Indices (VI), one unique to Landsat, 12 unique to Hyperion/EO-1, and five commons to both satellites (i.e., 6 total from Landsat and 17 from Hyperion). We used linear models (LM) to evaluate how changes in ground observations of forest structure (biomass, leaf area index [LAI], and litter production) associated with fire were captured by the two VIs most sensitive to forest degradation. Our results indicate that the Plant Senescence Reflectance Index (PSRI) derived from Hyperion/EO-1 was the most sensitive to vegetation changes associated with forest fires, increasing by 94% in burned vs. unburned forests. Of the Landsat-derived VIs, we found that the Green-Red Normalized Difference (GRND) were the most sensitive to forest degradation by fire, showing a marked decline (87%) in the burned plots compared with the unburned Control. However, compared to PSRI, the GRND was a better predictor of changes associated with fire, both in the forest interior or forest edge, for the three ground variables: biomass stocks (r 2  = 0.5-0.8), LAI (r 2  = 0.8-0.9), and litter production (r 2  = 0.4-0.7). This study demonstrate that VIs can detect forest responses to fire and other disturbances over time, highlighting the relative strengths of each VI. In doing so, it shows how the integration of multispectral and hyperspectral data can be useful for monitoring tropical forest degradation and recovery. Moreover, it provides valuable insights into the limitations of existing approaches, which can inform the design of next-generation sensors for global forest monitoring., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Assisted coral recovery (ACR) initiatives are establishing rapidly in coral reefs worldwide, using a variety of devices and techniques. In the Great Barrier Reef (GBR, the Reef), site-scale ACR field trials are occurring at multiple sites in the Cairns-Port Douglas region through Reef stewardship activities involving GBR tourism operators, Traditional Owners, and not-for-profit organisations. It is hypothesised that these field trials and the presence of ACR devices at reef tourism sites do not negatively affect visitor experiences, and when accompanied by appropriate educational information, can potentially help to raise awareness of Reef stewardship and conservation efforts. We tested these hypotheses using a survey of 708 Reef visitors on five tourism vessels, 346 of whom reported observing ACR devices in situ during their coral reef experience. Ordinal regression tests of survey responses found no statistical relationship between respondents' observation of ACR devices and (i) their overall Reef trip satisfaction, (ii) the perceived aesthetic beauty of the site(s) they visited, and (iii) their concern about the future health of the GBR. However, Reef visitors who observed ACR devices showed significantly lower levels of concern about the use of these devices on the Reef. The perceived quality of educational information presented to respondents was among the significant factors associated with their reef trip satisfaction and perceived beauty of reef sites. Our findings have implications for ACR practitioners and proponents who are concerned about public visibility, perceptions, and support for ACR initiatives, as the scale of such initiatives is expected to increase., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Curnock et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Sustainability has become a key factor on our planet. If this concept is applied correctly, our planet will be greener and more eco-friendly. Nowadays, waste classification and management practices have become more evident than ever. It plays a crucial role in the sustainability ecosystem. Computer algorithms and deep learning can help in this sustainability challenge. In this paper, An Optimized Neutrosophic Deep Learning (ONDL) model was proposed to classify waste objects. Two datasets were tested in this research {Dataset for Waste Management 1 (DSWM1), and Dataset for Waste Management 2 (DSWM2)}. DSWM1 consists of two classes (Organic or Recycled) objects. The DSWM2 consists of three classes (Organic, Recycled, or Non-Recyclable) objects. Both datasets exist publicly on the internet. The ONDL model architecture is constructed based on Alexnet as a Deep Transfer Learning (DTL) model and the conversion of images to True (T) neutrosophic domain and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) for the image features selection. The selection process of the building components of the ONDL model is comprehensive as different DTL models (Alexnet, Googlenet, and Resnet18) are tested, and three neutrosophic domains (T, I, and F) domain are included. The ONDL model proved its efficiency against all the tested models, moreover, it achieves competitive results with related works in terms of testing accuracy and performance metrics. In DSWM1, the ONDL model achieved 0.9189, 0.9177, 0.9176, and 0.9177 in Testing Accuracy (TA), Precision (P), Recall (R), and F1 score. In DSWM2, it achieved 0.8532, 0.7728, 0.7944, and 0.7835 in TA, P, R, and F1 Score consequently., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Khalifa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In the United States, the general public typically disapproves of trophy hunting. Given the global ubiquity of the practice, its potential to benefit conservation when properly managed, and the substantial role played by American hunter-tourists, changing these attitudes can help to maintain the practice as a wildlife management tool. Existing trophy hunting communications, which are currently neither well-designed nor widely distributed, are unable to effectively do so. We used an online survey to explore current American attitudes regarding trophy hunting and assess the efficacy of different messaging strategies in influencing these attitudes. Respondents were randomly sorted into nine treatment groups, each of which received both an identity-focused priming item (or lack thereof, as a control) and a message about trophy hunting. The priming items prompted respondents to consider either their personal values (personal identity) or political affiliation (social identity) before reading their assigned message. All three messages evaluated in this study contained a brief informative paragraph about trophy hunting, and additional information concerning either the ecological or socioeconomic benefits associated with the practice was appended onto this paragraph for respondents assigned to treatments featuring an experimental message frame. Based on the responses of 2000 U.S. residents, we found that negative attitudes regarding trophy hunting were pervasive and resistant to change. Messages framed around the ecological or socioeconomic benefits of managed trophy hunting slightly increased approval for the practice, but identity-focused priming items had no comparable effect. Additionally, respondents' trust in the messages varied by source. This research represents a novel approach to understanding and changing public attitudes toward a highly controversial form of hunting through scientifically informed messaging. While our findings suggest several areas of improvement specifically for future trophy hunting communications, they may also be applied to outreach efforts concerning other contentious wildlife management issues., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Rozing et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Rapid technological advances and growing participation from amateur naturalists have made countless images of insects in their natural habitats available on global web portals. Despite advances in automated species identification, traits like developmental stage or health remain underexplored or manually annotated, with limited focus on automating these features. As a proof-of-concept, we developed a computer vision model utilizing the YOLOv5 algorithm to accurately detect monarch butterfly caterpillars in photographs and classify them into their five developmental stages (instars). The training data were obtained from the iNaturalist portal, and the photographs were first classified and annotated by experts to allow supervised training of models. Our best trained model demonstrates excellent performance on object detection, achieving a mean average precision score of 95% across all five instars. In terms of classification, the YOLOv5l version yielded the best performance, reaching 87% instar classification accuracy for all classes in the test set. Our approach and model show promise in developing detection and classification models for developmental stages for insects, a resource that can be used for large-scale mechanistic studies. These photos hold valuable untapped information, and we've released our annotated collection as an open dataset to support replication and expansion of our methods., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Land is a finite resource that must be managed wisely to ensure its sustainability. Consequently, land evaluation has become essential. Identifying and utilizing productive capacity of land efficiently and profitably is crucial; otherwise, resource degradation can severely impact natural ecosystems and food production. Over the years, various methodologies have been employed to assess land resources, and one such method is the Land Capability Classification (LCC). LCC is a widely used and fundamental approach to land-use planning, traditionally assessing land based on its intrinsic qualities and climate. This study aims to highlight new approaches and developments in land evaluation techniques. It provides a brief overview of recent technological and scientific advancements integrated into land evaluation. The findings suggest that LCC alone is inadequate for precise land assessment, emphasizing the need to integrate new technologies. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies are becoming increasingly significant. Integrating various software, decision-making systems, and mathematical models can also enhance the accuracy of land assessment results. The continuous advancement of GIS and remote sensing technologies is paving the way for new tools to facilitate natural resource mapping, appraisal, surveillance, and management. Utilizing these technologies for future projections will be highly beneficial in accurately assessing the long-term impacts of current land management practices., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Background: Climate change and increased awareness of planetary health have made reducing ecological footprints a priority for healthcare organizations. However, improving healthcare's environmental impact remains difficult. Numerous researchers argue these difficulties are caused by healthcare's environmental impact being multidimensional, influenced throughout the healthcare chain, and often has downstream consequences that are hard to identify or to measure. Even though existing research describes many successful approaches to reduce healthcare's environmental impact, a robust multidimensional framework to assess this impact is lacking. This research aims at developing a maturity model for sustainable healthcare that could be used for self-assessment by healthcare professionals to identify improvement actions and for sharing best practices in environmental sustainability., Methods: A design-oriented approach for maturity model development was combined with an expert panel and six case studies to develop, refine and expand the maturity model for environmentally sustainable healthcare., Results: A maturity model was developed containing four domains: 'Governance', 'Organization Structures', 'Processes', and 'Outcomes and Control'. Applying the model in real-world environments demonstrated the model's understandability, ease of use, usefulness, practicality and ability to identify improvement actions for environmental sustainability in healthcare organizations., Conclusions: This study found that healthcare practitioners could apply the maturity model developed and tested in this study in several hours without training to help them gain valuable insights into the environment footprint of the healthcare setting they worked in. Systematically implementing the model developed in this study could help address the urgent need to mitigate the substantial environmental impact of healthcare. These implementations can help evaluate and improve the maturity model., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Changes driven by both unanticipated human activities and management actions are creating wicked management landscapes in freshwater and marine ecosystems that require new approaches to support decision-making. By linking a predictive model of nutrient- and temperature-driven bottom hypoxia with observed commercial fishery harvest data from Lake Erie (United States-Canada) over the past century (1928-2022) and climate projections (2030-2099), we show how simple, yet robust models and routine monitoring data can be used to identify tradeoffs associated with nutrient management and guide decision-making in even the largest of aquatic ecosystems now and in the future. Our approach enabled us to assess planned nutrient load reduction targets designed to mitigate nutrient-driven hypoxia and show why they appear overly restrictive based on current fishery needs, indicating tradeoffs between water quality and fisheries management goals. At the same time, our temperature results show that projected climate change impacts on hypoxic extent will require more stringent nutrient regulations in the future. Beyond providing a rare example of bottom hypoxia driving changes in fishery harvests at an ecosystem scale, our study illustrates the need for adaptive ecosystem-based management, which can be informed by simple predictive models that can be readily applied over long time periods, account for tradeoffs across multiple management sectors (e.g., water quality, fisheries), and address ecosystem nonstationarity (e.g., climate change impacts on management targets). Such approaches will be critical for maintaining valued ecosystem services in the many aquatic systems worldwide that are vulnerable to multiple drivers of environmental change., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Citizen science is a valuable tool for addressing spatial distribution gaps in endangered species, especially in data-limited regions. Given the logistical and financial challenges of studying migratory species, this cost-effective approach contributes to strategic conservation planning. The Bay of La Paz, located in Baja California Sur, México, is considered an ecologically important region within the larger Gulf of California. Due to its rich biodiversity and abundant natural resources, the region serves as a hub for ecotourism and fishing, affording diverse opportunities for community-based scientific initiatives. This paper examines the value of citizen science contributions from three diverse community groups ( i.e. , coastal residents, SCUBA divers, and artisanal fishers) to help scientists obtain information on sea turtle distribution in the Bay of La Paz. Our findings represent the first records of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) in the bay based on ten citizen science reports that include live and dead turtles (either observed swimming, as bycatch, or stranded), providing new information on an endangered pelagic species identified in a coastal bay. Although the sample size is small, our diversity of sources and sighting types highlight the value of collaborative citizen science initiatives in complementing traditional research methods., Competing Interests: The authors do not have any competing interests. Stephanie J. Rousso is a PhD candidate at CICIMAR-IPN from 2021 - current. Her research is funded by the Mexican government as a graduate scholarship. Stephanie is not currently, nor ever has been an employee of Upwell Turtles. In 2019, Upwell secured an unrestricted fund, for 1 year, to support research initiatives in Mexico aimed at sea turtle conservation which Stephanie received and administered in Mexico to cover logistics, administration, and coordination of several research projects including Sea Turtle Spotter. Currently, Stephanie does not receive any funding, stipend, administrative support from Upwell. Upwell supported the research outlined in this manuscript through administrative elements, such as graphics and administrative staff that were allocated to create the field guides of sea turtles used by citizen scientist, costs associated with hosting free public workshops, travel to confirm species identification in the field, visits to the fishing communities and other administrative support for research projects. Agnese Mancini is employed full time by Grupo Tortuguero de Las Californias A.C., (©2024 Rousso et al.)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 represent the current perceptions of humans regarding understanding and monitoring development. Achieving all 17 goals simultaneously is unrealistic. Considering the interconnected nature of SDGs, identifying their critical dimensions, goals, indicators, and mutual relationships is necessary. In addition, with increasing reservations about the sustainability of SDGs, it is crucial to explore consistency across different dimensions to ensure policy coherence in maximizing synergies and minimizing trade-offs. Our study employed multiple factor analysis (MFA) and hierarchical clustering on principal components (HCPC) to investigate these issues and analyze the results based on the public value (PV) theory. The results indicated that the Human Development Index (HDI) and gross domestic product per capita (GDPP) constitute the first principal component (PC) and are determinants in differentiating country clusters. However, they contradict environmental indicators such as CO2 emissions per capita and ecological footprint gha per person (EFP) and have low synergy with the Happy Planet Index (HPI). Additionally, the relationships between income level, inequality, and environmental quality correspond to a combined Kuznets curve and an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Moreover, governance capacity has become increasingly crucial in sustainable development, particularly in the capability to prioritize different PVs in a timely and strategic manner. Finally, despite the novelty of EFP and HPI, they cannot reveal the entire development story. SDGs require embracing more such indicators to enrich the value bases of development and achieve a sustainable future., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Chen. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: The bioeconomy, an evolving concept promoting sustainable use of renewable biological resources, confronts the challenge of balancing growth and sustainability across sectors like biotechnology, agriculture, and forestry. This study aims to elucidate the bioeconomy's dynamic nature, constructing a comprehensive theoretical model addressing these complexities., Methodology: Through an extensive literature review, foundational elements for this model were identified: defining the core concept, delineating relevant variables, specifying assumptions and parameters, and depicting relationships through equations or diagrams. Special attention was given to integrating Georgescu-Roegen's insights, emphasizing causal links, state variables, measurement scales, and validation plans., Results: The model incorporates Georgescu-Roegen's insights, highlighting the importance of clearly defining the bioeconomy for a comprehensive understanding. The proposed model leverages variables, assumptions, and equations within Georgescu-Roegen's framework, serving as a crucial tool for researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders. This approach facilitates research structuring, informed decision-making, and interdisciplinary collaboration., Conclusion: By addressing the bioeconomy's evolution, and cross-sectional boundaries, and adopting a broader perspective, this study contributes to policy development for a more sustainable and integrated bioeconomy. Based on empirical knowledge, this model provides not only a solid theoretical framework but also practical guidelines for advancing toward a balanced and resilient bioeconomy., Competing Interests: No authors have competing interests., (Copyright: © 2024 Zuniga-Gonzalez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Watershed characterization is essential for sustainable watershed management and effective resource utilization, particularly in assessing changes resulting from interventions. This study investigates the biophysical and socio-economic conditions of the Agewmariam watershed, aiming to develop land capability and suitability maps while identifying viable management options. Biophysical data, including land slope, soil properties, erosion severity, stoniness/rockiness cover, and vegetation cover, were collected through field surveys and analyzed using overlay analysis in ArcGIS. Socio-economic data, encompassing population demographics, income, and expenditure, were gathered via individual interviews, complete census, and focus group discussions and summarized using descriptive statistics. The study identified 259 households with an average family size of 4 and a demographic dependency ratio of 96.6%. The major sources of income are crop production and livestock rearing supplemented by casual labor and food aid. The average farmland holding size is 0.5 ha, with sorghum, barley, teff, and wheat as the dominant crops. The watershed is characterized by six land capability classes (classes II, III, IV, VI, VII, and VIII). The suitability analysis indicated that the watershed is not currently suitable for wheat and teff crops unless physical, chemical, and biological management improvements are implemented. The study revealed that the major limiting factors for land capability and suitability were slope, erosion severity, stoniness, soil organic matter, and soil texture. The socio-economic characterization enhanced awareness about the local socio-economic condition, informing appropriate planning and management strategies. The study recommends intensive soil and water conservation intervention, afforestation on hillsides, changing the land use system, and the addition of organic matter and fertilizers to enhance land capability and suitability for sustainable agricultural practices., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Coral reefs face escalating pressures leading to unprecedented declines in the populations of reef-building corals. 1 , 2 Conservation genomic studies are critical in understanding and formulating interventions to reverse such declines but thus far have only focused on a handful of broadcast-spawning species in shallow waters. 3 , 4 The recent International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reclassification of six different brooding corals as "critically endangered" 5 indicates that such species are equally threatened. However, we lack a thorough understanding of the factors underlying their decline. Here, we comprehensively examine the genetic impacts of a severe population decline in the brooding coral Helioseris cucullata, once a major contributor to Caribbean reefs but now critically endangered. 6 , 7 , 8 Genome-wide sequencing of colonies across five locations revealed the presence of two distinct species, indicating that the remaining population sizes are even smaller than previously estimated. Using an exhaustive, spatially explicit sampling approach (across a total of ∼2.5 hectares), we observed extremely low genetic diversity and identified how localized dispersal, excessive inbreeding, and prevalent asexual reproduction may contribute to an extinction vortex. However, we also found evidence for recent hybridization and introgression, providing an avenue for the reintroduction of genetic diversity into both lineages. With many brooding species now under threat, these results highlight the critical need to assess the genetic processes associated with their declines so that these can be harnessed or mitigated to deliver effective conservation outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)